Interest Only Mortgage : Investment/savings strategy help

FBF2007

I currently have an interest only mortgage and have been putting money away over the past 8 years into a combination of equity ISA's, savings accounts, and maximising my company SAYE and partnership schemes.

My mortgage is £215k. and currently I have about £65k built up; £34k in company shares that I'm still locked into, £10k in cash and £21k in equity ISA's.

All my current monthly investment goes into company partnership and SAYE schemes [£375/month]; I usually get £3k of my bonus in shares each year as well to give a total investment of £7.5k/year.

Whenever my company shares get to tax free status I sell up and either put in savings or equity ISA's.

I think I should continue with the company schemes as the partnership shares come out of pre-tax income and there is no risk with the SAYE shares as if they are below market price when they mature I can just get the cash back plus a nominal rate of interest.

My main concern is in relation to the combination of equity ISA's and cash savings I hold. More precisely, I think given the uncertainty in the equity markets I should get out of my equity ISA's. I was tempted to do this about 12 months ago but never got around to it. I think I have been far too passive towards my investments over the past couple of years.

If I did sell up I would transfer the money into a combination of monthly drip feed savings accounts or 12 month bonds. I should also add that my Wife doesn't work and as she has no income we would be able to receive gross interest. I therefore think there are probably better products out there for my Wife than what is available in an ISA.

Long-term goal is to pay the mortgage off as soon as I can and with the £65k pool at the moment, plus £7.5k/year, I should be able to do this in about 10 Years with a 6% return. I'm not convinced that, on average, a mix of equity ISA's will beat what I can get from the monthly savings accounts over a 10 year period.

So apologies for going on but the views I would like is whether I should get out of my equity ISA's now and set up some monthly savings accounts in my Wife's name?

Also, should I consider approaching an IFA for advice?

ad44downey

Maybe you should change from interest only mortgage to a repayment one. Then surely in today's economic environment you would get a much better interest rate on your mortgage?